The Heinz Dilemma (Kohlberg)

In Europe a woman was near death from a very special kind of cancer. There was one drug that doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should Heinz have done that? Why? (from http://www.cce.umn.edu/dis/courses/CPSY1301_8283_02.www/course/13.html)


Cases like Heinz Dilemma are commonplace in Ethics Testing


So what would be more realistic:

Harriett is a staff analyst at a mid-sized company with a family and a desire to become a manager. Her current project is due the next morning. At 4:45 in the afternoon she realizes that while the project only needs a little bit more work, she needs to stay at the office late in order to finish it on time. Should Harriett leave for home right at the companies 5:00 closing and satisfy her family obligations or stay late at work and get the project done on time?


Another realistic example

A photographer, in the course of trailing the First Family on vacation, catches a shot of the 17 year old daughter of the President, on the beach, kissing a young secret service agent. The photographer sells the picture to several large media outlets, including People magazine, the New York Daily News, News of the World, and Fox News. Should these publications publish the picture?


Another every day example

Its lunch time. You are hungry, but your work is seriously backed up and you want to get home to your family at a reasonable hour. You can take 45 minutes for lunch, talk with friends and eat a healthy meal of soup and a salad or you can grab a hamburger and some fries and take them back to your office. Do you take the time to relax and eat healthy or do you eat the fast food and get home earlier.